Sicko “must see” movie

My wife, son (a dedicated 15 year-old Michael Moore fan), and I went to see Sicko yesterday and were deeply moved by it. It is definitely a “must see” summer movie. But not for the reasons you might expect.

Few would disagree that the health care system is seriously broken in this country. There are big, complex issues as to why that is so. Looking at the role of technology and litigation in the cost of health care doesn’t make for a compelling movie. From the start of the movie, Moore lets you know that it isn’t going to be about the many uninsured in America. The movie is about far more than our health care system. It is about how we value … or don’t value human life in America. Hearing how Canada, England, France and Cuba value human life far better than we do is pretty compelling.

Sicko is a revolutionary movie because it uses our health care system to reveal just how badly off we really are here. The decline of our health care system is symptomatic of the decline of quality of living we citizens have permitted in the last 30 years. The fundamental question Moore asks is, “Does our government serve the welfare of the people or do we serve and fear our government?” The comparison Moore makes with France is stark.

What was shocking for me watching the movie was witnessing my internal attitudinal complicity dialogue and seeing how I’ve allowed my thinking to be framed in ways that are anti-humanitarian. Corporate think pervades the media today because they are all large corporations. It takes stepping outside our national borders to make crystal clear what’s wrong with America today. The dominant society values the accumulation of wealth more than we value human life.

That is just plain wrong. At the root of this failure to value human life is the corporation that does not value human life as much as it values wealth accumulation … profit over people. As a religious person, I know in my bones this is wrong.

So I’m ready to join a revolution in values and I hope you are too. If you need any fuel, just go see Sicko. I predict this movie is going to start a powerful political movement for social change. Expect Sicko to generate a massive corporate backlash. Moore has his finger on the problem only a mass movement of people in a democracy can solve.